10 comments:

Bliz
said...

I have read your entire blog, and pretty much check it every day, because it is HILARIOUS. Also, you seem like a completely rational and sensitive teacher, which I really respect.

So maybe I don't have the facts straight, seeing as I don't know this student or his mother, but based on his name and her note, it really seems like her first language is probably Spanish. My husband (from Colombia) often confuses fingers and toes because in Spanish they are the same word. Like I said, you always seem like an incredibly sensitive person, so I believe you wouldn't intentionally write something harmful. That being said, this post came across like you were mocking someone for whom English is a second language.

Thank you for your comment. I totally understand your feelings on this one and appreciate your honesty. I do not wish to offend you.

I did intend to mock her willingness to be dishonest to get her son out of a PE activity simply because he doesn't enjoy it. He only limped when he walked up to hand me the note. He didn't limp in class. He didn't limp between classes. He didn't limp as he raced across the playground at recess or lunch. My intention was not to mock her English skills. It was to mock her skills of deception. Had she been grammatically perfect, I still would have written about her excuse because it was so clearly untrue. And it was one of 20 excuse notes she's written this year.

Kids are terrible liars, but trying to get away with it is part of growing up. The willingness of some parents to perpetuate lying is one of the most disappointing aspects of my job.

That being said, I am sorry I let you down. I hope you'll still choose to read.

Haha! If I asked my mom to write a note, I definitely would have asked for a redo when I saw the word "tongue" was still written in there.

When I was a kid my best way of getting out of the mile was running the first lap, tripping somewhere along the way, and bleeding on the track until they allowed me to stop. It usually worked like a charm, but eventually falling on scabs hurt and I still have scars!

Oh, this IS funny! One of our teachers has a whole collection of similar notes. One of my favorites was a note written on the back of the teacher's own stationery! The note read: "Please excuse Barbie's homework. She did not have time. Barbie's Mom". And...then, when you turned the paper over, it had the teacher's letterhead at the top! Busted, Barbie...busted!!

Seriously,

This is not a serious blog. Any people, places or things I am writing about are either a figment of my imagination or used fictitiously. If any coincidentally seem like real people, places or things you know of, then that just proves what an insightfully creative writer I really am!

Or, that I lack insight altogether. One or the other...

Either way, it is just as I said: a coincidence.

Furthermore, if I happen to mention any web sites or products that I love, but then you try them and think they stink, I am not responsible for their stinkiness. Despite the fact that you may have found them stinky, I hope you'll still keep reading. I'd be lonely without you.